Jump To:

• Much Ado About Nothing
  Much Ado About Nothing

  noun

  a comedy (1598?) by Shakespeare.
• much ado about nothing
  much ado about nothing

  A big fuss over a trifle, as in Jerry had everyone running around looking for his gloves—much ado about nothing. Although this expression is best remembered as the title of Shakespeare's comedy, the phrase much ado was already being used for a big commotion or trouble in the early 1500s.

Much Ado About Nothing

American  

noun

1. a comedy (1598?) by Shakespeare.

---

much ado about nothing Idioms  

1. A big fuss over a trifle, as in Jerry had everyone running around looking for his gloves—much ado about nothing. Although this expression is best remembered as the title of Shakespeare's comedy, the phrase much ado was already being used for a big commotion or trouble in the early 1500s.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Much Ado About Nothing much ado about nothing

A meet cute, sparring enemies who become lovers, a wisecracking coterie of buddies, an outstanding amount of lying — these are elements of surefire entertainment older than Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2018

The couple frequently appeared together in such TV dramas as Fortunes of War and in such films as Peter's Friends and Much Ado About Nothing.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2018

What compels our amorous complicity is the genre of romantic comedy, which even at several levels below "Much Ado About Nothing" and "As You Like It" manages to win our favor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2018

After Batman, Keaton took a series of notably unstarry roles – a tenant from hell opposite Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine in Pacific Heights, a hammy Dogberry in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 9, 2017

Whatever it was supposed to be much more than, Much Ado About Nothing wasn’t funny.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

But focusing on the COLA’s magnitude is much ado about nothing.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

Former England international John Barnes described the controversy about the colours on the St George's Cross as "much ado about nothing".

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2024

Since it’s just July 30 and the Seahawks don’t play a regular-season game until Sept. 10, any concern over the injuries might be much ado about nothing.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023

This whole issue is much ado about nothing.

From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2023

For instance, Raoul’s much ado about nothing comes by way of his father, a failed Shakespearean actor who gave up the dream and started a theater camp for underprivileged children.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman